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 Swim
Comments: REALLY happy with this swim, especially after last weeks shoddy performance. Kind of a weird start and finish, but each course has it's unique challenges. I would imagine that my actual splits were much lower than this, so that's even better! Age group and wave data is not up yet, so I don't know how I did compared to the rest of the wave, but I do know that when I got to the rack, there were only a handful of bikes gone. I did catch a handful of the wave in front, so that was cool... In the last 300 yards or so, my calves began cramping up. Uhoh, not a good time for that to happen. I just let my legs float and I pulled for a bit, and the cramps subsided a bit, but it was problematic for the rest of the day. The ONE bummer of the swim was that as I was running up the path, the sleeve of my wetsuit caught on a post and tore the cuff off. Argh. What would you do differently?: Really couldn't ask for more of a solid performance, in my opinion.  Transition 1
Comments: I am sure I can shave time somewhere in here, but I will always have to cope with taking the time to dry my ear out to get my hearing aid in. Oh well. Was able to do a flying mount and it went really well. What would you do differently?: -  Bike
Comments: I am not happy, but I am satisfied with this portion. My calves seized every time I tried to gun it hard, so I was not able to take full advantage of the rollers back in on Schneider. I had to stick with spinning at an even cadence as much as I could to keep the calves and hips loose. I also made an in-game decision to back off a bit, more than originally planned, since it was beginning to get hot quick, and needed something left in the tank for the run. All in all though, I wanted a split of less than 1:15. Can't complain, and I FINALLY evened out that biker's arm tan... I experimented with wheels and rented a set of 808s. Should have gone with the 404/808 combo. On a few of those gusts coming back down Schneider, I wobbled a bit more than I would have like to. I dropped my chain at mile 22. Non-factor though. Just unclipped my right foot, reached down and pulled the chain back on. Nothing to it. Plus, in the last 1.5 miles, I got passed by some dude wearing a purple speedo. I slowed a bit. Didn't want to be staring at that AT ALL... What would you do differently?: Nothing really I guess. I think one of my racing strengths is that I am always evaluating and re-evaluating. Sometimes I decide to stick with the plan, sometimes I need to adjust. So far this season, I have been EXTREMELY happy with my in-game decision making and being able to keep my head about me in the heat of the moment. Transition 2
Comments: I seriously thought I had been under 1 minute with this T2 time. Flying dismount (sort of), rack bike, helmet off, shoes on (no socks), and gone. Passed a TON of people fiddling around with their visor thingies... What would you do differently?: -  Run
Comments: Here. Comes. The. Pain. Cramped straight out of T2. Hills were relentless. Hot. I will say this. I played on the defensive line in college. I thought the 2 a days every fall were painful. I have never experienced core-shattering pain like I did today. I don't know if it was poor run fitness, poor race day nutrition, or some combo of those with the fact that I am a bigger guy. 6.2 miles of pure pain with no reprieve. This was the point in the race where every goal I had set was immediately downgraded to survival. Finish, yes. Preferably in one piece. Time to DTFU. Definitely a new experience for me, and a great one at that. I'd never had to dig that deep before. I had to walk 3 of the hills. I always run sockless, but today turned into that kind of day. My toes began to rub, and I began to bleed through my shoes. Sucked it up until mile 4.5. At this point I made possibly the best decision all day. I took the damn shoes off. Why not?! It's on grass. The shoes came off and I began to fly. Carrying my shoes with me, and running as God meant for me to, my stride opened up and I passed about a dozen people, just in that last stretch! I found a small energy reserve and was able to kick it to the finish extra hard and passed one last person in my AG before the finishing chute. I looked at my watch. 2:42. You gotta be muthereffinmuthakiddin me. Worst pain of my life, and I STILL was able to beat my time goal?! I seriously was thinking 3 hours or so. 2:42. Wow, so I guess I was still moving forward that whole time, huh? Huh. So somebody remind me why we like this pain so much?!? What would you do differently?: I need to start formulating a solid nutrition plan. Door County HIM is coming up, and I really don't want to start that race off with some cramps, eh? Post race
Warm down: Found the water tent, and Clint. I cursed for a bit, then sat down. Clint got my some ice and water and we chatted in the tent for a bit, then my question (why do we like this pain so much?) was immediately answered. The beer tent. Amen brother. Hung out at the finish with the handful of donks that were there, met a few more. Drank more beer. Found Skoov and was pumped to hear that he won the collegiate division! Stretched out a bit, then loaded up the car, got some chow on the way home and took a 6 hour nap... Event comments: Will be back for the pain again next year! Last updated: 2008-10-13 12:00 AM
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Endurance House
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In every event that I enter, my primary goal is ALWAYS to finish. After that I usually a few goals beyond that. Today's time goals were to be 2:45, and then beyond that, approach a 2:38 finish time.
Since my college football days, I have been a big believer in visualization and the benefits of it to prepare you for game day. The funny thing is, usually when you visualize, you visualize the positive; powering up those hills, having a smooth swim stroke, or sprinting across the finish line.
This weeks strategy was unique. I went the other way and visualized the negative. This my first ever olympic distance race, and I had been hearing horror stories about the run course. So I visualized pain. Lots of it. Swimming and biking are my strengths by far. I am a bigger guy, so running on a flat surface, I am pretty good, and bring it down to fast than 7 min/miles. Throw any incline change in there, I am toast.
That's cool, I am alright with that. I know what I need to improve.
But I still need to prepare for that hurt. A famous pro said "it is good for all athletes, pro and amateur alike, to prepare for all eventualities, good...and bad..." I was preparing for the bad.
Rolled outta bed at 4:30, packed up my things and rolled out the door. I wanted to get there early for packet pickup and to make sure I got a good transition spot. Got there early enough and found that all spots were pre-assigned... Gonna be that kinda day, eh?
Saw a few donks, exchanged a little smack talk with Clint and began to focus.
Got into my wetsuit and swam for about 10 minutes or so. Water was feeling good, and it was kind of nice to finally have a race where the weather was decent.
It's go time.